Champion rower Anita Lucette DeFrantz was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 4, 1952. As a child growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana, she began her athletic career as a member of her local swim team. She attended Connecticut College, and at almost 6 feet tall, she tried out for the women’s basketball team … Read MoreAnita L. DeFrantz (1952- )
Legal scholar and author James Forman Jr. (a.k.a. James Robert Lumumba Forman) was born in New York City, New York on June 22, 1967. His mother, political activist Constancia Romilly, was the daughter of English author and journalist Jessica Mitford; his father, James Forman, Sr., played a prominent role … Read MoreJames Forman Jr. (1967- )
ENTRY SPONSOR: Quintard Taylor Sarah Boone was an American inventor best known for her patented improvements to the ironing board. She was one of the first African American women to receive a patent in United States history. Boone’s legacy was her improved ironing board. The ironing board … Read MoreSarah Boone (1832-1904)
Lynn Nottage, an award-winning American playwright, was born on November 2, 1964 in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was a child psychologist. Nottage was inspired by school productions to write her first play, The Darker Side of Verona, which is about an … Read MoreLynn Nottage (1964- )
Hilton Als is an American writer and art critic who was born in 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, the child of two Barbados immigrants. Raised by his mother with his five siblings, four sisters and one brother, he studied art history at Columbia University but dropped out before graduation and became a … Read MoreHilton Als (1960- )
Hartford, Connecticut in the late 1960’s was a city immersed in racial unrest, class disputes, and activism. The city was a dichotomy between the ghetto, predominantly black or Puerto Rican and impoverished, in the North End and the South End, white and middle or working class. The black population had … Read MoreHartford, Connecticut Riot (1969)
Robert Glass, the Connecticut Supreme Court’s first African American member, was born on November 28, 1922, to M.E. Jackson and Isiah Glass in Wetumpka, Alabama. His parents were young and quite poor when he was born so they were not able to pay for his schoolbooks, which was … Read MoreRobert Davis Glass (1922-2001)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian-born writer who is best known for her published works that have garnered internal acclaim. Adichie, the fifth of six children, was born on September 15, 1977, in Enugu, Nigeria, to James Nwoye Adichie and Grace Ifeoma. Her father was the first professor … Read MoreChimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977- )
In July 1998, Erroll Mingo Brown became the first African American admiral in the United States Coast Guard in its 207-year history. Brown was born in Ocklawaha, Florida. He grew up in St. Petersburg and although he had planned to attend Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, his interest in engineering and … Read MoreErroll M. Brown (1950- )
Former Naval officer Gerald Eustis Thomas served as United States Ambassador to Guyana and Kenya. Born in Natick, Massachusetts on June 23, 1929 to Walter and Leila Thomas, President Ronald W. Reagan appointed Gerald E. Thomas to both ambassadorships. Thomas began his undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska. He transferred to Harvard University … Read MoreGerald E. Thomas (1929- )
